Longtime Downtown Jersey City activist Dan Levin, who failed in 2009 to become mayor and again last year to become a councilman at large, has announced he will run in the 2013 city election to become Ward E’s council rep.

Levin, 50, joins fellow Downtown resident Candice Osborne as the only two announced candidates for the Ward E council seat, which is up for grabs next May along with the mayoralty and all other eight council seats.

Levin said he wants to expand the city’s pay-to-play laws to cover the Board of Education, implement a system that would allow more residents to serve in city government and adopt a strict ethics code.

“I bring a passion and belief that I can help make Jersey City a safer, more vibrant city, work to stabilize taxes with sensible spending and advance common sense sound solutions for Ward E, and for Jersey City,” he said in a press release.

The Ward E seat is currently held by Councilman Steve Fulop, who is running for mayor next year. Osborne is running for the Ward E seat on Fulop’s ticket.

Levin ran against current Mayor Jerramiah Healy in the 2009 mayoral race but finished with less than 8 percent of the vote. Last year, he ran with 16 others for two at-large seats on the council, finishing in the middle of the pack with about 2,200 votes.

Levin, who runs a custom picture frame store in Hoboken, is the founder and president of local good-government group Civic JC.